Animal of the day: Camel

Some truth about camels

My friend Adam is back from Morocco and said on Facebook that his travel bags smell like mint, camel and cumin. Which got me thinking about camels this morning. We also have camels in Kazakhstan, and if you drive in rural areas you can see them grazing or crossing the road. During the holiday of Nauriz they also bring camels to the celebration shows.

I wanted to share some fun facts about this majestic animal, because, admit it – how often do you even think about camels?

Do you know the difference between one-hump and two-hump camels? By the way, one-hump camels are called dromedary, and two-hump camels are called Bactrian.

Bactrian Camels are much less common than dromedary (one-hump). Bactrian camels are native to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. Aside from the obvious difference of the number of humps, Bactrian Camels differ in a few other key ways. For example, the Bactrian camel grows a thick coat of hair each winter. That coat of hair falls off every spring. This is to deal with the extreme variation of temperature in the Gobi desert where summer highs often top 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and winter months can see significant amounts of snow.
– Source: the Hatch report

What happens if you breed one-hump and two-hump camels? Not a three-hump one, as you might guess.

It is possible to cross breed the two types of camels. Some people would expect that by breeding a one-hump camel with a two-hump camel that the result might be a three hump camel. The actual math equation is closer to this: one-hump camel + two-hump camel=a camel with one really large hump.
– Source: the Hatch report

Camelâ??s milk is widely consumed in Kazakhstan and is called â??shubatâ?, it has high contents of vitamins C and D and is said to be really good for strengthening immune system. I am from Kazakhstan, but I somehow have not tried it (I tried horse milk and wasnâ??t a big fan).

Also in Kazakhstan camels are called â??ships of the desertâ?. Some Kazakh names include the word â??baby camelâ? in them, such as â??Ak-botaâ?, which means â??white baby camelâ? or â??Botagozâ?, which means â??camelâ??s eyeâ?.

Camels originated in North America and then spread to Asia and other countries:

Fossil evidence indicates the ancestors of modern camels evolved in North America during the Palaeogene period, and later spread to most parts of Asia.

The last camel native to North America was Camelops hesternus, which vanished along with horses, cave bears, mammoths and mastodons, cave lions, sabertooth cats, and most other large animals on the continent, coinciding with the migration of humans from Asia
– Source: Wikipedia